Brookline School Committee on contract negotiations: ‘Funds are not unlimited,’ recent negotiations ‘frustrating’

Wednesday

Mar 1, 2017 at 1:02 AMMar 1, 2017 at 8:46 AM

Jenna Fisher jfisher@wickedlocal.com @JennaFisherTAB

After years of contract negotiations with the teachers union, School Committee members said they have repeatedly offered significant wage increases but the town budget hampers how high they can go.

“[W]e know that our valuable paraprofessionals have not been paid sufficiently competitive wages in recent years, so since the summer of 2015, increasing pay for paraprofessionals has been a priority on both sides of the negotiating table,” said the School Committee in a statement released Tuesday, pushing the issue back into the spotlight.

Throughout the past year the School Committee said it has let public comment at multiple meetings go beyond the normal time allotment and listened to the input of teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents, and taken those concerns to heart, according to School Committee Chairwoman Susan Wolf Ditkoff.

Still, even though five of the six school-related contracts have been negotiated, the paraprofessional contract remains unresolved to the chagrin of educators, the superintendent's office and the School Committee.

The School Committee said it has offered more money for paraprofessionals.

“All of the School Committee’s offers to the BEU have included significant wage increases for paraprofessionals,” said the statement. “The School Committee proposed salary increases of between 20 percent and 36 percent over a four-year period are significant, and evidence a meaningful and good-faith effort by the School Committee to address the concerns of our staff. Unfortunately, the BEU has consistently turned down that offer.”

Town on a budget

This comes as the district attempts to address student enrollment increases that have put historic burdens on the budget – including a $1.3 million deficit - and impaired its ability to achieve the district’s goals, Wolf Ditkoff said. Voters passed a three-year tax override in 2015, but because of enrollment increases, the committee has started planning expensive high school expansion and the construction of a ninth elementary school.

"We will already need debt exclusions and an operating override to deal with these structural deficits. At the same time, we are constantly mindful that preserving the economic diversity of residents helps make Brookline great, and that override funds are not unlimited,” reads the statement.

Teacher's union President Jessica Wender-Shubow said both sides have offered proposals, adding that the School Committee is currently looking at a proposal from the union, and she understood that cuts might need to be made.

"Budgets are moral documents. They’re choices. There are of course difficult questions and challenges and decisions to make," she said adding the union could point to a number of potential cuts in order to accommodate what the union is asking for. "That is what a democratic process involves. Clearly it’s no surprise to anyone that funds are not unlimited."

See the School Committee's full statement here (Story continues below)

During the past override campaign the School Committee promised to limit compensation increases to an average pool of 2 percent annual wage increases and 3 percent annual steps and lanes increases — for a total of roughly 5 percent increases per year, according to the statement. But the union has rejected that, they said despite the fact that BEU leaders campaigned along with School Committee members to pass the 2015 override against a well-organized “No” campaign, the committee said.

“Unfortunately, recent negotiations on the paraprofessional contract have been frustrating. ... the BEU has been consistently demanding increases far in excess of those we jointly fought for in the last override," reads the statement.

The union president said the union doesn't consider step increases as pay increases. "It’s easy to say they’re getting an increase, when in fact its built into the budget," she said.

Brookline’s defined standard for a living wage is $13.71 per hour. Under the existing contract, a first year paraprofessional in Brookline earns $16.04 per hour, said Wolf Ditkoff, who told the TAB she understood that the union wanted paraprofessionals (or teachers aides) to be measured on an annual salary basis.

But, she said, that's not how they are paid. And this appears to be a major sticking point for the educators union.

"It is important to understand that in all school districts, including Brookline, paraprofessional positions are not full-time, full-year positions," reads the School Committee statement.

"The actual pay of a first year paraprofessional who works a 6.33 hours for 189 days (the current standard) is now $19,189, which the BEU and the School Committee agree is insufficient and negatively affects retention.

The School Committee has suggested increases in hourly rates and increases in standard hours that would raise annual pay for this first year paraprofessional to $23,946, or a 25 percent increase, said the statement.

Though Wender-Shubow said she couldn't immediately comment on the numbers, she said the relationship between the weight of pay for one hour and how many hours a person works was key.

"If you won’t guarantee a fuller time job then the pay has to be higher by the hour. And to lay out the hourly wage and to reference it being a living wage is empty, unless you understand what kind of day does the paraprofessional work," she said.

That the School Committee said it would add hours and extend the day was a good thing, she said. But she wanted to see that in writing.

"We are waiting right now for a response to the ideas we gave to them this week. We think it was a tremendous modest and fair move to a livable wage. Nobody is trying to reform or change the entire system in one single contractual agreement. We’re trying to move closer to what would be a livable wage."

Something they agreed on

Both said they agree a new paraprofessional contract would means cuts elsewhere.

Some places where they may have to trim costs? Student technology purchases and a 10 percent cut in supplies budgets across the board are two immediate examples, said the School Committee

Wender-Shubow questioned whether the district needed a recent hire to process data and said she could think of other places to cut.

"These are positions that add up to a significant chunk of money," she said.

“We are one town, and our budget compromises need to be collaborative and work for very diverse constituents. We hope that an agreement on our last remaining contract can be reached as soon as possible, prior the next phase of negotiations — mediator-ordered fact finding — which will commence next month.”

The contract negotiations came to an official impasse when a mediator declared it this year. The mediator sent the process along to the next step: An independent fact finder will analyze data on both sides of the argument, including the district's numbers and write a non binding report on their findings. That process will begin this month.

See Wender-Shubow's letter to the editor on this topic in the TAB's Opinion page section.

Market Place

Community Blogs

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Brookline TAB ~ 254 Second Ave., Needham, Massachusetts 02494 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service